France thwarts suspected new terror attack

French anti-terrorism forces arrested four people, including a 16-year-old girl, and uncovered a makeshift laboratory with explosives material as they thwarted a suspected new terror attack, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Friday. The arrests Friday were in the Montpellier area of southern France.

The prosecutor’s office said around 70 grams of TATP were seized. The explosive, which can be made from readily available ingredients, was used in the November 2015 attack in Paris and the March 2016 attack in Brussels carried out by Islamic State extremists. The men arrested were aged 20, 26 and 33. Unconfirmed French media reports said the people arrested were planning a suicide bombing on a tourist site in Paris. The prosecutor's office, which handles terrorism investigations in France, has not commented on the reports.